One Good Day
by TieDyeJackson
Summary: What If Becoming had just a little bit gone different? Give it a shot cause I suck at summaries but got the good stuff inside :D ... Possibly a new AU season 3. Debating on this being a MC or just a one-off fic.
1. Chapter 1

Something felt wrong as she was fighting Angel ... Angelus. Well then again nothing felt right in these past few months since that eventful night where he had lost his soul. She knew this was the end and that it was kill or be killed but deep down in her heart she knew that even if she won, she would lose. They had been going back and forth with the swords , sparks flying up at an alarming rate. She was gasping for air with every swipe and even though he didn't need to breathe, she knew from her training that Angelus' strength was waning as well. She saw his death fast approaching as well as the shattering of her own heart.

Xander Harris was never a man of impulse, He was a man that always calculated the risk and then let someone else make the decisions. He wants to make sure Willow is ok and Giles is taken care of so for some strange reason when he sees the desoto with the blacked out windows he shoves Giles in and then flies back to the hospital. He tells the emergency people that he found this man half beaten to death by a gang high on pcp and that if they need to ask him any questions he will be in the Rosenburg room. As he reaches his destination je sees the others just standing in fear as his friend sits there chanting in some dead language with eyes as black as coal. It feels like ice running through his veins as he just feels that this is the beginning of the end for his best friend so he doesn't hesitate for a second as he grabs the glowing orb and throws it to the floor.

Spike sighs as he scoops up Dru. He was hoping against hope that he wasn't going to have to knock her out but again he underestimated her royal barminess and her need to be a constant pain in his ass. He loved her to undeath but sometimes just sometimes she could really get on his nerves. Ah well, Pretty soon they would be under the South American moon sipping on tourists faraway from Sunnyhell no more Poof, no more Slayer and her band of merry gits. If he had tap shoes, he would bloody well dance a jig. He watched the slayer and Angel dance the dance of death and was just about to leave when he felt the need to not to. He was in such a trance like state that he didn't even notice the body in his arms stirring.

Buffy didn't even notice Spike standing in the entryway as the clang of metal on metal reverberated in her ears. Then that feeling plagued her again, nothing here ws real, nothing here was right, things were taking place that never should have been. This feeling distracted her as Angelus took his swipe at her and seemed to loose his footing just enough for Buffy to deal that killing stroke. Time stood still as the wind and sound seemed to be sucked into the waiting jaws of Acathla. The blade slipped through the space between them like it was sliding through water and her inward gulp of air felt like it took an eternity. She doesn't know what happens first, she hears Spike's almost death like cry as Drusilla jumps between her blade and Angelus and they are both sucked into Hell

They stood there in the blackness of the mansion for what seemed like an eternity. They were numb to what had just happened. Spike smelt the blood before Buffy even realized it was there and for some reason he had caught her before she collapsed. He looked down at wound in her stomach which a steady flow of blood was now pouring out of. Maybe it was him being half crazy with grief but he tried to staunch the bleeding as tears streamed down his face. It was her hands that stopped him.

"Spike … I'm not … going to make it … ... and I'm alright with that" He was frozen as the full meaning of her words flowed from her steady gaze to his; "Slayers don't get a gold watch and I'm … just tired … so very very tired".

" Thanks for helping me save the world even if it was for your own selfish reasons. No matter how much of a monster you are … you always keep ... your word … so while I'm still your temporary ally I need to ask for it once more … don't kill them … please … you know what loss is like and … I'm just asking you … don't kill them …" He nodded without a second thought " Her skin was whitening by the second and her breaths were becoming short and hollow " Spike … please tell ... my mom … that I love her ... and that ….I'm... sorry" She choked out in between tears. Spikes heart hadn't moved in over a century but in that last 15 minutes his immortal beloved had died and his mortal enemy was now bleeding to death at his feet, his heart felt shredded and what he thought once would be the greatest death of them all was just a bleedin tragedy.

She laughed and he could see it took almost all her energy to do it. "my last moments …. spent with one of my worst … enemies and we're not...even locked in combat " . "You died saving the world, Slayer, something that you've done more than once so I think the fates will take it easy on ya" Spike smirked and wiped the hair sticking to her face.

" The funny thing is … Spike … that I always thought it … would be ...you … Spike... from the moment I met you … I thought it … was just … inevitable that I would be your lucky number Thre..."

It was surreal when that last heartbeat echoed through his brain and then the rest was silence.

He closed her eyes and he crossed her arms and then for the first time a vampire without a soul cried for the loss of the Slayer.


	2. Chapter 2

Spike had enough sense about him that he knew what he had to even though he didn't feel feel like it. Slayer's mom deserved to know and not by some cop who had the emotional interest of a grape. She needed someone who knew how bravely she died and what her final words were.

The Desoto was taken, most likely by the young git but Spike didn't much care anymore and besides he needed the time to think of what he would say. He knew all the ways to get around to that side of town without being notices , and carrying a prone body was nothing new to him so he slipped almost all the way to Joyce's door without missing a step, the only part he hesitated was on the front step. He decided while standing there in the waning morning hours he would leave her on the couch , he only promised the slayer he wouldn't kill anyone , he was a soulless monster after all, slayers died , it was a fact.

He gently opened the door and was about to glide out the way he came when he heard her puttering around in the kitchen ... weeping. He may be a soulless cad but at that moment his cold black heart leapt from his chest to his throat. He shook his head as he made his way towards the noise. He stood at the entryway to the kitchen just looking at Joyce, realizing that he was about to bring the world down on her shoulders. His head dropped as he tried to staunch tears that had not bee shed in over a hundred years and then twice in one day. He heard the groan of his leather coat rubbing against itself and slowly raised his eyes to meet a now alerted Joyce. She saw the look in his eyes and the lump in his throat and he moved like the wind, for the second time today he lowered a falling Summers woman gently to the floor.

Great sobs of warm tears soaked his shirt and heated his stone cold skin. He left her moans of sorrow and the tears all the room they needed to flow and when they started to slow he let her pound her fists against his chest and blame him for everything under the sun. He knew how the death of a loved one affected a person , he knew it tenfold when you had to kill that loved one yourself. When she could finally look him in the eye with such emotion it even bothered a soulless monster, he spoke.

"She told me with her dying breath to tell her mum that she loved her and that she was sorry for the way it all went down, Joyce. She saved the world, more than once in fact and put the rest of world in front of herself. Even when we were on different sides, she was one of the only people in over a hundred years to ever have my respect. She went out like a hero, one the world won't see the likes of again." Joyce said nothing but squeezed Spikes hand hard to acknowledge his words.

Her voice asked in a whisper to be taken to her and he guided her softly by the arm and helped her lower down to the couch where Buffy lay. He stepped back into the shadows knowing this was their moment and watched mutely as she whispered into her daughters ears, hugged her, smoothed her hair and kissed her all the while her tears fell. He felt like an interloper so he watched her passively and didn't listen to the words he felt were private. She beckoned him to bring her up the stairs and he stood mutely at the door as she bathed and hummed to her daughter. He wrapped her in the towel and carried her to her room. Watched as her mother dressed her and brushed her hair and followed when she closed the bedroom door and went down the stairs. He didn't say a word as she grabbed two glasses and the bottle out of the kitchen cupboard and poured both their tumblers full of the dark amber fluid. He drank with her in reflective silence until she broke it.

"Was it painful for her ?" she asked with a strained voice and imploring eyes.

"I noticed it before she did and she went quite quietly and knowing that it was her time. She said her peace and slipped softly into the gentle night.". Joyce nodded .

"So what are you gonna do now ... Spike?"

"Don't much know myself Joyce, the love of my unlife perished in the same fight trying to save Angelus . No idea what to do with myself sides taking a walk in the sunlight and dusting myself good and proper."

He was shocked as her hand went across his face and then to her shocked mouth, he felt strange because he didn't even have the urge to snap her neck like kindling, just this vast emptiness inside. He looked up still in shock to see the shocked face make way for fiery resolve.

"My daughter died saving this damned world and you mister are part of that world . Despite being a so-called soulless monster you still had the thought of bringing her home to her mother when her mother threatened to kill you with an ax and she was your mortal enemy so if you think I'm gonna let you die to, you have another thing coming. Now I don't feel much like thinking right now and I need sometime with my grief so as for you , you are marching right down into my basement , there is a cot and very little light so you get down there now and stay down there until dusk and so help me God I will kick your undead ass away from any stakes, holy water , or sunlight myself , you got me ?!"

The last thought he had before silently descending his stairs were "And I though the slayer was one tough bitch"

Spike felt like he could sleep the sleep of the dead (well more so than he usually did anyways) and as the sun started to rise he lay on the cot and his eyes started to close and he relaxed knowing that the blackness of oblivion would soon be on him.

But then the thoughts came.

He had no purpose in life anymore, what was death and destruction if you couldn't share it with loved ones. He'd give everything he had to see his little barmy angel Drusilla just once more ... stab her in the throat he would, maybe give her a steel toe to the teeth a couple of times and then stomp on her ribcage ... bloody bitch deserved to be in Hell jumping to save the poof like she did. Of course he would have nursed her back to health after everything he would do to extract his revenge because, hey, love endures all things.

As far as Angelus anything that happened to him would be an answer to his prayers (if he had any that is). He felt his undead dick stirring and smiled at the thought of a thousand demons sodomizing Angelus while holy water dripped in his eyes, crucifixes bumped his testicles, and ABBAs greatest hits were all he heard for the rest of eternity.

As far as the slayer, it was a shame she went in the way she did. She had a fire unlike no other and if Spike was being honest even made his pants a little tighter every time he was around her. That slayer was young but she moved like silk and death was her art. He would have loved for it to have been them in the end, that sorta fight was a thing of beauty no matter what the outcome. She had said she thought it was gonna be him and the strange thing was he always thought it was gonna be her. Woulda been right fun to be dusted by the best, he woulda laughed his way straight to his rightful place in Hell.

Eventually everything overtook him and he finally rested.

He awoke in a different room, in a different place and he was a might bit pissed off. Had the scoobies transferred him to some other place to torture the final hours out of him. But then he actually opened his eyes to a room that was pure white. The couch he was on, the walls , the floors, the fully stocked bar, the cushions, the ceil ... hold on ... wait a tick ... the fully stocked BLEEDIN BAR !

As the bottle of 40 year old scotch disappeared down his gullet he thought to himself if this wasn't Heaven he would forsake it for another five minutes and another few bottles. As the last drop trickled across his tongue he finally realized that he was no longer alone, there was a bloke in a white suit, well not a bloke really, the red horns and green skin was a dead give-away and for a second Spike considered the thought that he had been dusted in his sleep and this was just Hell rewarding him for a job well done.

He held a cigarette between his teeth and flicked his beloved lighter to flame and he spoke to this devil with his usual flair "Don't take this the wrong way, mate but who the hell are you and give me a reason why I shouldn't jump over this bar, tear off that gelled- up frosted tip little head of yours, and dance a little jig under the resulting shower?"

The demon looked at him with interest and then chuckled as he took a sip of his sea breeze.

"whoa, whoa whoa there, my little platinum and leather rainbow of fun. I'm an old friend that you just don't know yet. Come to think of it, in this reality, we may never meet but hey, I love you just the same. The name is Lorne and you my friend need to lend me your pretty little ear for a tick or two and I think your just the right mix of brains, beauty and brawn that you are gonna oblige this tired old soul of mine."

Lorne slapped his knee and gave it a little shake and for some strange reason, Spike didn't feel the urge to kill this wanker. He looked at him a little sideways cause the fella made as much sense as a chocolate teapot but he decided to indulge him so he shrugged his shoulders and leaned on the chair.

"I'll assume the silent James Dean pantomime as your yes and just get down to the brassiest of tacks my little Blondie Bear".

Lorne got up and walked over to the bar and started to mix up another sea breeze as he started to speak;  
"It's a whole new ballgame out there, Spikey. It seems my new bosses, The Powers That Be are shaking things up just like a James Bond martini and just think of me as your little Clarence. I can't give you the whole picture because that would be against the rules but I can tell you that in my reality, Buffy and Angel both survived more or less but things don't turn out good for either side."

He took a long pull from his drink and continued

"Dark stuff happens, darling, both of the apocalyptic and the personal tragedy variety and lets just say the scales of the world still end up a little heavy on the nasty side. now Buffy and Angel were good people and fought the good fight and the old people upstairs decided with all the changes necessary they would call them both upstairs just a little bit early. They are together and happy in Heaven and before you start ranting about Poof this and Nancy boy hair gel that lets just say its just Angel's soul that was rewarded, Angelus is with Acathla forever and going through things that would make the devil himself poop a brick."

Lorne let Spike have a moment to enjoy this and then he threw another bottle of scotch Spikes way "You're gonna need this, sweetie."

He waited for Spike to get through half that bottle before he continued.

"That brings us to you my little ray of moonshine." He made his way back to the chair in front of the sitting Spike and patted his knee before he sat.

"You may not believe me, but you are, in my realities future anyway, a white hat. You become one of the best of us and not only do you save the world but you sacrifice yourself for it twice ... once for a lady and once just to fight the good fight ... and you might wanna finish that bottle before I finish this"

Spike didn't argue one bit to the suggestion. If he had to breathe he would be bleeding hyperventilating. Bollocks to him switching over to the Nancy Drew Brigade and getting himself dusted for the sake of good. When he got out of her he would definitely need to kill a few dozen virgin or strangle a puppy or two for the sake of the evil in his cold dead heart.

"Take a deep breath cause the next one here is a doozy, William ... you got yourself a shiny soul in my world ... not a curse ... you fought tooth and nail to get it and there ain't no bumping boots clause like there was with Angel. It was stuck to you like a lollipop to a fat baby bathing in a bucket of glue" He paused and looked into Spike's eyes almost sympathetically and smiled a sad smile.

"... and ... for the sake of the world... we're gonna give it back to you. "

The blood in Joyce's veins turned to ice as a scream filled with over a hundred years of blood and death shook the Summer's home to it's foundation.


	3. Chapter 3

Lorne just shook his head and silently cursed the PTB in his head because he knew they could hear. He leaned down to Spike lying in the fetal position in this dark basement and stroked his hair. He had frozen time for this moment so Spike didn't stir but Lorne hoped that somewhere deep inside that beautiful platinum head his words would sink in.

" The powers owed me a little favor hon and I decided to waste it on you." He smiled as he looked down at Spike and continued to stroke his hair, " You went from being a scourge of Europe, and a vamp that made his name in blood to being a shining example of redemption even before you took on a soul that you sought out yourself. You're a whole lotta Hell tempered with just the right amount of Heaven. So the soul we stuck in you isn't a new one, its the one from where I come from. You won't know anything it went through but I'm hoping that it saving the world a few times takes a bit of the sting outta the crazy your about to go through. Being newly omniscient I caught the midnight show of your last ensouling I prefer your hair and hot little chest without the wear and tear and luckily here there are no crosses for you to get up close and cozy with... yeesh"

"You loved with all your heart every second you were on this earth whether it was your mother, Cecily, Dru, or Buffy and even though you never felt like you were worthy or ever felt it back you still plugged along like the little engine that could. You were a great man in love and deeds and went from being selfish to selfless all by yourself. Take it from a green-skinned fella who can see a bit ahead, you are gonna get everything karma deserves to give you, even if you don't know it yet."

"Well, it looks like I'm getting the old orchestra playoff and I gotta go, just remember my Alabaster Adonis to straighten up, fly right and always remember, even when things are at their darkest, you should always have faith".

Time restarted to a distraught Joyce running down the stairs to an alone and rocking Spike.

* * *

She had called Giles first and told him to come over quickly. She didn't want to tell him over the phone but stopped him before he entered the house. She left out the part about Spike being in the basement, just that he had made a truce with Buffy and brought her home to her mother as was her dying wish. Any argument that Spike was the one that did the deed left Giles as Joyce told him the words Spike had said in praise of her daughter.

Anger gave way to sadness, Sadness gave way to tears and they held onto each other as the sobs racked their bodies. Joyce had blamed Giles for being her watcher and leading her down the path to her death but being here with him now she knew. The sobs that issued forth from this man were not those of a mentor but those of a father, more of a father than her own husband had ever been and all she could do was cry more tears and hold onto him a little more tight.

They gathered themselves and called the rest of her friends. Everyone was numb with shock but things had to be done and it was discussed the funeral was to be a low key and private affair. There was the unnecessary attention that the authorities would bring and they didn't on the off chance alert anyone of the demon persuasion of the hellmouth being without a slayer. Giles made a few calls and she had been cremated. Giles thought it fitting that she be poured into the ocean, allowed to drift to the four corners of the earth she died to protect, being at one with it all.

* * *

* * *

It's a summer of change in Sunnydale for the team formerly known as the Scooby Gang. After the funeral is done and the shock is warn off it becomes apparent that Willow blames Xander for Buffy's death and Xander blames himself. After finals, Willow gets her parents to sell the house in Sunnydale and vows to never again have anything to do with this town or the occult. She only says goodbye to Giles and disappears into the night. Xander no longer has his tow best friends and decides that trip he was going to take after High School needed to be done now, Oz tries to convince him not to leave but Xander will have none of it. He buys the van and makes the same vow as Willow before him. He at least says his goodbyes and drives off with a tearful farewell.

Giles debates leaving for England but decides to take a leave from the council. He has no need to be the school librarian anymore so he takes all his savings and invests in the magic shop located less than a block away from Joyce's gallery. He hires a very odd girl named Anya to help him run the shop and on the days that Joyce does work ( gone to half hours due to Buffy no doubt) he takes the short trip and takes her out to lunch. Pretty soon the lunch becomes a weekly dinner at his place as well as the lunches and he feels his admiration for this strong woman grow. She seems distracted and sometimes rushes off to go home but other than that, she is just a delight.

She seems a bit off put that tonight's dinner is in a restaurant and not in his home. "Damn my forgetful hide for forgetting the pheasant and burning them" Giles chortles and she just smiles and pats his hand. She can't help but see the nervous glances and his jittering until somewhere between the pasta and desert she finally calls him on it. "What's wrong Rupert, you seem like your going out of your mind?"

Giles looks like a deer in the headlights and fumbles about with his cutlery and cup of coffee. "Well … uh... you see Joyce … I wanted to talk to you about … well I wanted to discuss …".

She grins, pats his hand and gives a look to tell she is sympathetic.

She jumps as he stops his stammering and hits his fist on the table " Bloody hell, why must I be ...so...so … British ! " She can't help but laugh but feels sorry as her hand shoots up to cover her mouth. He looks at her for a moment and then joins in her boisterous laughter. They are both in tears as the rest of the restaurant looks on at the middle-aged couple who have obviously gone completely off their gourd. What they don't know is that this is the first time that either one of them ha laughed in the past three months.

The laughter dies down and he flips his hands and grabs a hold of hers and has a look of complete seriousness on his face. "I've lost two people in the last year that meant more to me than even my own life. Especially when Buffy died I thought most of my heart died with her too"

"But these past few months some of the cracks in this old codger's heart seem to have lessened."

his grip tightened on her hands and he swallowed the foolish pride that felt like broken glass in the back of his throat

"And I find myself, despite my stubbornness, falling so deeply and irrevocably in love that I don't think that I could ever pull myself away or would ever want to."

She could hear the nerves in the breath that seemed to escape every inch of his lungs.

" I know I'm no spring chicken. I'm cranky and set in my ways and I am crazy enough to believe in fairies, and werwolves and vampires. But, I am a man who will love you with all of my heart until my dying day and even beyond that … If you'll have me."

The kiss took both their breaths away.

* * *

Giles was woken by a very serious and troubled looking Joyce. He leapt up and took a hold of her. She rushed out of the bed and was gathering her clothes and his tossing them at a wondering Giles.

" I've been keeping something from you when I probably shouldn't have. I can't tell you but I'm gonna show you, but you must promise me , if you care for me you won't act rashly and listen to everything I have to say when we get there, OK?" She stopped buzzing about waiting for his response.

"Of course, Joyce. Whatever you need to say, say it and I promise to understand".

But she didn't speak while getting dressed, or driving or even upon entering her own home. She just led him towards the basement where he heard the TV playing and a voice that sounded so familiar.

" Did you get the Wheetabix, mum. This stuff is foul without a little bit of tex..."

He stopped mid-sentence as he faced off with an equally stunned Giles.

The drone of the TV was sliced through by two voices in unison

"Bugger"


End file.
